


The Meta of Corran Horn

by IrenkaFeralKitty



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: X-Wing Series - Aaron Allston & Michael Stackpole, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Character Analysis, Gen, Mental Health Issues, Meta, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Trauma, mental health
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2020-10-21 10:40:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20692157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IrenkaFeralKitty/pseuds/IrenkaFeralKitty
Summary: Corran’s life encompassed many of the key events of galactic history and ultimately shows how even someone suffering from trauma and mental disorders can live a rich, fulfilling life.AKA, an analysis of Corran Horn.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't finished reading the New Jedi Order books nor those that come after, so this meta will only briefly touch on that era.

**Biography**

Corran Horn grew up on the planet Corellia in the suburbs of Coronet City. His beloved grandfather owned a house opposite his and he often raced across the green grassy circle separating their properties to visit him. He was an only child and well loved by his parents, Hal and Nyche Horn.

Immediately after completing secondary school, Corran entered the Corellian Security (CorSec) Academy at the age of eighteen in order to follow the career path of his father and grandfather as a CorSec officer. He quickly proved to be more than a match for his predecessors, breaking numerous records.

After his first year at the Academy, Corran became embroiled in an anti-Black Sun operation in Coronet City. He was tasked with operating as an undercover officer to help obtain information to help prosecute various Black Sun syndicate officials. He rose above and beyond this task by helping bring in a key witness willing to turn state’s evidence.

His father, Hal Horn, was kidnapped by two bounty hunters after the Battle of Talus, which immediately followed the Black Sun operation. The bounty hunters were actually pursuing a bounty placed on Corran’s head and exchanged Hal for Corran. He was taken away from Corellia and imprisoned outside Bestine on Tatooine. Rebel operatives freed him and from there he soon returned to Corellia and his schooling.

The next year, at twenty years of age, Corran officially graduated from the Academy and became a full fledged member of CorSec. Unfortunately, his mother Nyche Horn was soon badly injured in a landspeeder accident caused by a drunk driver. She lived long enough to speak with both Corran and Hal before dying. 

Nyche’s death caused deep emotional wounds for both Corran and Hal, but they were able to maintain their personal and professional working relationship, and soon captured the criminal Zekka Thyne after a daring undercover operation.

Approximately one year after taking down Thyne (and soon after the Battle of Hoth), Corran was officially transferred to the Smuggling Interdiction Division of CorSec where he was paired up with the new recruit Iella Wessiri.

During a CorSec operation six months later, Hal Horn was murdered by the bounty hunter Bossk who had captured him the year before. Despite racing to his father’s side after being an immediate witness to the murder, Corran was unable to prevent Hal’s death and held his father in his arms while he passed. Bossk was later released by Kirtin Loor. Corran was torn between believing that Loor did this out of simple malice for Corran, and Loor having had a direct hand in his father’s death. In the aftermath of Hal’s death, Corran and his grandfather drifted apart and were unable to discuss personal matters or share their emotions at all. 

Corran soon began a spiral of increasingly risky and emotional behavior. The annual CorSec Awards Ball was held two months after Hal’s death and Corran gamed the traditional dating pool lottery to secure the opportunity to take Selonian transfer Chertyl Ruluwoor to the ball. Despite the dismissive attitudes of the CorSec officers towards the alien, Ruluwoor made a stunning impression at the ball and she and Corran soon retired to enjoy an intimate liaison. They discovered a basic biological incompatibility and parted ways. 

Corran and Iella were later involved in a deadly shoot-out at a glitterstim dealer’s warehouse and Iella was herself shot. Corran suddenly came to believe afterwards that he and Iella were in love with each other and they nearly slept together despite Iella being married. They were separated for official CorSec matters for two days and soon realized that those feelings had been triggered by their near-death experience.

(It should be noted that we never get Iella’s perspective on this and thusly, could be missing key facts. Corran has been shown numerous times to be an unreliable narrator and could have misinterpreted some or all of Iella’s actions after the shoot-out.)

Corran later engaged in a brief affair with the heiress Siole Tinta while assigned as her temporary protection detail. The affair ended when Corran was reassigned and he only then realized he was not in love with her.

Whatever else happened during this time, it was clearly aberrant and alarming. Gil Bastra and Iella went so far as to deliberately entangle Corran in a bar fight to try and force him to focus on the present instead of constantly thinking back to his father’s death. He resolved to do so going forward.

By the time ten months had passed after the Battle of Endor, Corran had his first encounter with members of Rogue Squadron when several of its pilots come to Corellia to try and find and evacuate the family of the recent defector Soontir Fel. Corran agreed that they needed to work with the Rogues and they deployed as back-up for the operation. Afterwards, he followed the Rogues in his CorSec X-Wing as they left the planet and shot down several fighters that tried to destroy them.

Corran’s behavior continued to escalate and was further stressed when Kirtin Loor demanded the Smuggling Interdiction Division switch its focus to locating and arresting Rebels on Corellia. The conflict between Corran and Loor was bad enough that Loor threatened to charge Corran with treason.

Loor’s increased scrutiny of Corran, Iella, and Gil forced them to conclude they (along with Iella husband, Diric), needed to flee Corellia. Gil created false identities for them all, and he and Corran staged a fake falling out over Corran’s supposed killing of several smugglers. Loor was convinced by this scene and his surveillance over Corran and the others lessened enough to allow them to plan their escape. Loor held Corran’s supposed murders over his head and threatened him with legal charges should he step out of line again.

In keeping with the plan to escape, Corran provoked Loor enough for the Imperial liaison officer to attempt to arrange his death. While supposedly investigating smuggler activity in system, Corran was instead jumped by two flights of TIE fighters. He shot down several of the ships and fled into hyperspace.

After cycling through several identities, Corran settled on the planet Garqi and remained there for over a year as an aide to the governor. During this time, he was determined to remain isolated and alone. He didn’t want to deal with galactic politics and presumably believed he would never see anyone from his past again. He did still have his X-Wing and made secret flights once a week for the sheer pleasure of flying.

By 6 ABY, however, galactic politics came to him through the conflict of New Republic supporting university students and the government of Garqi. Corran helped free the students under arrest and accompanied them on their journey to the New Republic. 

He was finally tempted into joining the New Republic by the prospect of trying out for the famed Rogue Squadron where he served with distinction. 

As a Rogue, Corran was initially cool on bonding with his squadron mates and only began to mix with the others after being encouraged by fellow pilot Lujayne Forge. Later, he helped liberate the galactic capital planet Coruscant. Through this, however, he was captured by Ysanne Isard, who attempted to turn him into one of her _ Lusankya _ agents. The effort failed and he was released into the general prisoner population. 

It was while escaping that Corran found records proving that Tycho Celchu, a veteran Rogue pilot and one of Isard’s former captives, was not one of her sleeper agents. Corran had been convinced of Tycho’s guilt through machinations of Isard and her agent Erisi Dlarit. Corran returned to the New Republic and cleared Tycho’s name. 

Corran then aided in the liberation of Thyferra with Rogue Squadron and the hunt for the Warlord Zsinj. He was with Rogue Squadron during the conflict with the Ciutric Hegemony, which included several months where Rogue Squadron was thought to be destroyed. Isard was revealed to be alive and she made multiple attempts to manipulate and disturb Corran while he prepared to help locate and free the _ Lusankya _prisoners and liberate the Hegemony. Mindful of how his wife, Mirax Terrik, was no doubt suffering with the loss of Corran and Wedge Antilles, a childhood friend, he helped his droid Whistler (and Wedge’s astromech Gate) escape from their temporary captivity. 

While engaged in a protracted battled against the pirate gang the _Invids_ several years later, Corran and Mirax were ready to start trying to have children. However, as Corran returned home, he found Mirax out on a job. During the middle of the night, she was kidnapped, her mental scream slamming through Corran’s Force sensitive mind and giving him a psychic wound that left him emotionally numb.

With the help of first Tycho and then Wedge, Corran consulted on the matter with Luke Skywalker, who diagnosed his injury. Luke then insisted that Corran needed to learn to be properly trained in how to use his Force powers in order to locate his wife. Agreeing, Corran took a leave of absence from Rogue Squadron and departed for Yavin IV.

Corran trained for several months while disguised as Kieran Halcyon. He was often frustrated by the training, feeling it lacked the structure he was accustomed to, and felt Luke Skywalker was too black and white in his thinking of the Dark and Light sides of the Force. He aided the other students in battling the evil spirit Exar Kun that rose up to threaten them and befriended Mara Jade when she came to train for a short while.

Jade was able to obtain the first real lead on Mirax and Corran departed feeling like he’d been wasting his time. He obtained transit to Corellia on the _ Errant Venture, _ his father-in-law Booster Terrik’s personal Star Destroyer. Though enraged Corran hadn’t contacted him as soon as Mirax was kidnapped, Booster aided Corran by providing him with new false identities and smuggled him down to the surface of Corellia, a world that still had active warrants out for him for his faked murder of several smugglers.

Corran visited his grandfather and had much of his family history explained to him - specifically, how his grandfather had sheltered and married the widow of Nejaa Halcyon, a Jedi and his biological grandfather. With several datacards and new information, Corran found his way to the Invids, the organization that had kidnapped Mirax. Working undercover, Corran set about working his way up the organization so he could find his wife.

The Invids prove another trial for Corran, as he found himself sympathizing with several of his new squadron mates. He also saw what could have been his path had he not found his way to the New Republic.

When the Invids raided a Caamasi Remnant settlement, Corran stepped in to protect a young female Caamasi from assault and ended up being forced to take one of the Caamasi, the girl’s father, as his personal servant in order to ensure no one came back to abuse her. Elegos A’kla soon proved to be an invaluable source of aid for Corran, helping him with research and providing counsel when the long, seemingly fruitless search began to wear Corran down.

Corran found new motivation when the Invid leader, ex-Moff Leonia Tavira, declared she would have Corran (under his current assumed disguise of Jenos Idanian) as her consort. He began to harass the Invids as a ghostly Jedi, driving many of them away. His actions eventual drovs Tavira to deploying her _ Jensaari _ agents to take down this mysterious Jedi and Corran was only saved when Ooryl Qrygg and Luke Skywalker appeared.

As a Gand Findsman, Ooryl had known where and when to bring Luke Skywalker to aid Corran, and together they defeated the _ Jensaari _ and finally learned where Mirax was being held. They were able to free Mirax, defeat the Invids, and free the _ Jensaari _ from Tavira’s control when Elegos shared memories passed down through his family of fallen members of their tribe.

Corran and Mirax had two children, Valin and Jysella, and Corran retired from military duty once formal peace was brokered with the Imperial Remnant. He joined the Jedi Academy as an instructor and remained there for the rest of his life. He fought in the Yuuzhan Vong War, going through several trials that challenged his understanding of the Jedi ways and dealing with a dishonorable foe. After the war, he was elevated to the rank of Jedi Master and even led the Jedi Order for a period of time.

* * *

**Analysis**

Corran had a relatively calm and controlled childhood. He copied his father in many things and even learned how to do Jedi meditation to control his (unknown to him) Force sensitivity under the guise of a secret family practice. He graduated from secondary school without any apparent issue and enter the CorSec Academy soon after. 

The undercover work he was recruited to do after his first year, however, was wildly inappropriate. Whether he was recruited for his youth and assumed to be better prepared for the operation as a member of a legacy security family or because there was malevolence on the part of the task force leader (hatred for his family, perhaps, possibly combined with a desire to force him out of the Academy) he recruitment should never have happened. Black Sun is notorious for its cruel and vindictive ways and his success does not justify the recruitment happening in the first place. 

Furthermore, this operation is the only possible driving force for Corran, a nineteen year old CorSec recruit, to end up with a bounty on his head. Corran soon found himself facing the prospect of his father being killed as a means of getting Corran. He was also captured, taken away from his homeworld, and imprisoned on the harsh world of Tatooine. He was later rescued by Rebel operatives, representatives of an organization he disapproved of. These incidents formed a foundation of trauma for Corran’s time as a CorSec officer.

* * *

**CorSec**

Sometime within the next year, Corran’s mother, Nyche, was struck by a drunk driver and badly injured. Hal and Corran were able to join her at the hospital and speak with her, but she died of her injuries soon after. This death, which occurred in front of him, proved to be a grievous wound for Corran and his father, one he would hold close and rarely share with others. Corran didn’t even tell Mirax, his own wife, and only opened up about it to Gavin Darklighter to try and help comfort him after the (apparent) death of his lover, Asyr Sei’lar. 

Corran did eventually heal from the pain of losing his mother. As he tells Gavin many years later, “...the pain you’re feeling right now, it never really goes away. It will always be there, and you can find it whenever you want to, but, in time, the amount it dominates your life will shrink. It will become a small part of the memories you’ll have of Asyr, and the good memories will dominate.”

Unfortunately, Corran would soon find himself without either parent. While taking part in a CorSec operation, Corran watched his father’s murder at the hands of the bounty hunter Bossk, one of the beings who had captured and threatened Hal two years earlier while pursuing the bounty on Corran’s head.

The murder itself was incredibly violent. Bossk entered the cantina where Hal was seated and laid down a spray of indiscriminate fire, striking and killing multiple people. Corran was watching, as he put it, from 100 meters away. Despite rushing in, his father died in his arms, leaving Corran kneeling in his blood. 

No justice was ever given for these murders. The Imperial liaison officer to CorSec, Kirtin Loor, ordered Bossk released, stating that he could not have possibly committed the murders because of an issue of manual dexterity and the rate of fire. Despite being palpably false and contradicting multiple witnesses, Bossk was freed and left Corellia.

This event, especially when placed against the backdrop of the violence Corran had already experienced in his professional career, was incredibly damaging to Corran. The pain of Hal’s death (occurring roughly a year after his mother’s death) caused a rift between Corran and his grandfather, his only living relative, that wouldn’t heal for over a decade. In an instant, the foundation of Corran’s emotional and social support collapsed out from under him.

Corran lashed out at himself and those around him. He blamed Loor for released Bossk and theorized wildly about why - wondering if Loor had done this out of sheer malevolence or if he’d had a direct hand in planning Hal’s death. The relationship between Loor and the Horn family was so poor, either theory had real merit. 

Worse still was how Corran blamed himself for not being able to either prevent or save his father. While being intellectually aware that there’d been nothing he could do, the vision of Hal’s death continuously replayed itself in Corran’s mind.

* * *

**A World Without Hal Horn**

From this moment forward, Corran’s actions became symptomatic of Post-Traumatic Stress. Hal’s death became a fixed point for Corran, with his brain replaying the murder over and over again like a stuck record. His nervous system remained locked in a state of hyperarousal, driving him to engage in increasingly emotional and risky behavior.

Long-term prognosis for people with PTSD is highly variable but can include: high risk of substance abuse, become either a recluse or “the life of the party”, continued fixation on the traumatizing incident, and violent or reckless behavior. 

Corran’s only remaining support network lay in Gil Bastra, a veteran CorSec officer Hal’s age, and Corran’s partner Iella Wessiri and her husband. Corran and Iella (and by extension, Dirik Wessiri) had only known each other for approximately six months before Hal’s murder. With his grandfather unavailable (in too much pain from losing Hal to be able to connect), this meant that Corran had few outlets to share his own feelings on Hal’s death and to be able to begin truly processing the event. What’s more, Kirtin Loor would cause Corran’s work environment to become increasingly hostile, further stripping him of places of safety.

Over the next several years, Corran began to engage in a number of unusual and risky behaviors. He manipulated a CorSec tradition relating to the annual Awards Ball to ensure he could be the one be Selonian transfer Chertyl Ruluwoor’s escort. Their attempt at a physical relationship was initially satisfying but came to a screeching halt when they discovered mutual, literal allergies to each other, and they instead ended up going their separate ways.

Corran and Iella nearly slept together following a violent shoot-out at a spice dealer’s warehouse - despite Iella’s existing marriage and injury from said shoot-out. The only reason they didn’t engage in the affair was that they were physically separated for two days while a variety of official CorSec procedures were being carried out. This distance allowed them to see that desire for sexual intercourse as a response to their near-death experience and not based on genuine desires.

(This, of course, assumes that Corran’s recollection of the event is accurate. He is a known unreliable narrator and could have either misinterpreted or misremembered how matters played out. Without hearing Iella’s side, there is no way to know.)

Corran also engaged in a wildly unprofessional affair with a woman he was assigned to protect, Siole Tinta. Yet again, Corran became utterly convinced that he was in love in a shockingly short period of time and only realized otherwise when circumstances changed and his protection detail ended.

In addition to these incidents, more unfolded over the next year that were alarming enough that Iella and Gil felt it necessary to embroil Corran in a bar brawl to try and shock him into recognizing how many unnecessary risks he was taking on and to try to get him to move on his fixation on his father’s death. Unsurprisingly, Corran’s personal resolution after the fight to move on did nothing to improve his mental health.

* * *

**Escaping Corellia**

Conflicts with Kirtin Loor also continued to escalate as the Empire applied greater pressure to the planetary security force. Not only was Corran a target of his hostility, but Iella and Gil were as well. At one point, Loor even threatened to charge Corran with treason, something which typically carries a death sentence. This event was the final prompting Corran, Iella, and Gil needed to begin plotting a way to safely escape Corellia.

In the end, Corran and Gil agreed to create a fake scenario where Corran could be credibly accused of murdering several smugglers. Loor believed the “falling out” scene Corran and Gil staged, which speaks in part to Loor’s willingness to believe the worst about Corran, but also to that level of violence Corran had been engaging in of late. Gullible or not, this incident had to be believable to a wide number of people, not just Loor.

In the end, the three officers and Diric were all able to flee the planet. Corran narrowly escaped Loor’s attempt to have him killed through sheer skill alone as he and his astromech Whistler fought off two wings of TIE fighters long enough to escape into hyperspace in their now-stolen CorSec X-Wing starfighter.

From this point on, Corran was alone. He had Whistler, certainly, but he was cut off from Gil, Iella, and Diric with no expectations that he would ever see them again. He had not reconciled with his grandfather and Loor ensured that the murder charges Gil had created were made official. As such, Corran would never be able to return to Corellia without facing arrest and imprisonment. 

Corran was alone and that first hyperspace flight where he sat with only his own thoughts for company must have been terrible.

After cycling through several fake identities, Corran settled on the planet Garqi as Eamon Yzalli, an Alderaanian who blamed the Rebel Alliance for the destruction of his home planet. This gave Corran the excuse he needed to have no apparent relatives, few friends (if any), and an unwillingness to discuss his past. 

With no way of being able to feel like himself save for night flights once a week in his X-Wing, Corran was trapped and frozen in time, so to speak. He did his job as Yzalli and did it well, assisting the planetary governor, but also had to suppress his own feelings and always appear to be someone else. Having no outlet for his own natural feelings or a way to find help processing the incredible amount of violence and trauma he had experienced over the past several years would result in further cementing Hal’s death in Coran’s mind and elevating Hal as a guiding beacon for Corran’s moral and personal decisions. 

After spending an entire year in this state of stasis, Corran was forced into action to assist New Republic supporting students who’d been arrested by the planetary government of Garqi. he ended up fleeing the planet with them and escorted them to safety with the New Republic. Once there, he was talked out of leaving with an offer to try out for Rogue Squadron, the New Republic’s premier starfighter squadron currently being reformed by Wedge Antilles.

* * *

**Rogue Squadron**

Corran did make it into Rogue Squadron but struggled to emerge from his habit of isolation. He shared little of himself with his squadmates and only eventually relayed the story of his father’s death to them even as the event continued to remain fixed in his mind. He began to form an emotional connection with Lujayne Forge that came to an abrupt end when she was murdered by stormtroopers. He did bond with his wingmate Ooryl Qrgg, but it would take time before they worked their way through the challenge of navigating a human-alien (friend) relationship.

Bror Jace was viewed as a rival (and a reflection of Corran himself), Gavin Darklighter as someone to be mentored, and the others are mere colleagues. Corran held great respect for Wedge Antilles but the gulf of officer-subordinate would not be overcome for quite some time. There was an opportunity for Corran to connect with Tycho Celchu, however, circumstances and New Republic Intelligence’s clear distrust of him and his possible status as a _ Lusankya _ sleeper agent prevented Corran from being able to see his true character. Instead, he became fixated on Tycho, locking onto him in a way that went far beyond that of a retired security officer stumbling upon a mystery. The obsessive behavior Corran began to display in regards to Tycho Celchu is an alarming sign of poor mental health, as was his tendency to castigate himself for real and perceived failures. He had moments of self awareness where he did his best to correct and reign in poor behavior, but such measures only went so far. 

Corran also continued to display signs of hyperarousal as he fixated on several human females around him. It’s notable that despite his attraction, Corran didn’t accept any of the advances made on him until he felt a reciprocal emotional bond forming. Erisi Dlarit, for example, made it clear she’d be happy with a physical liaison, and Mirax Terrik made her own offer once for a single sexual encounter. He rejected both offers and took no action until he and Mirax had begun to form a strong emotional relationship.

* * *

**Lusankya**

Unfortunately, Corran’s history of new trauma didn’t end here. His captivity and torture by Ysanne Isard on the _ Lusankya _ was incredibly damaging. In addition to being stripped naked, touched, and moved against his will, he was drugged and tortured as Isard attempted to turn him into a sleeper agent. Though he managed to resist her efforts, he suffered considerably and was soon tossed in with the general prison population to be kept until needed. 

With the aid of another prisoner, Jan, Corran managed to escape. He had his first semi-conscious use of his Force powers when he influenced a stormtrooper to ignore his hiding spot. He also discovered prisoner notes that confirmed Tycho Celchu was innocent of all charges; he had also managed to resist the brainwashing effort, although the effort did leave him catatonic for a while. 

This news was like a punch in the gut for Corran and he quickly realized he had effectively been helping to prolong Tycho’s torture with his obsessive behavior. He made his way off the _ Lusankya _ and found his way to the courthouse where Tycho Celchu was on trial for the murder of Corran himself. The only positive outcome from the day’s events was Tycho being proven innocent; other events included Erisi Dlarit being revealed as Isard’s spy and _ Lusankya _ tearing it’s way off Coruscant, killing millions in the process.

Wracked with guilt over the prisoners still trapped in the bowels of the super star destroyer and enraged at seeing Isard apparently escaping justice after she successfully helped stage a coup on the planet Thyferra (where she was installed as the planetary leader), Corran resigned from Starfighter Command and was immediately followed by the other pilots of Rogue Squadron. 

The mass resignation came approximately one week after Corran’s escape. It’s shocking to think that he was allowed to immediately return to duty considering what he had been put through. He had no real time to process his time on _ Lusankya _, the torture he suffered, the emotional fallout of Erisi’s treason, and his own part in tormenting Tycho Celchu. 

* * *

**The Bacta War**

While the so-called Bacta War did eventually see Isard removed from Thyferra and the _ Lusankya _ taken by the New Republic, the Rogues suffered for it. They lost a pilot, Riv Shiel, had an indirect hand in the deaths of thousands of civilians following Isard’s bloody retaliation for their actions, and Corran’s brief reunion with Iella was cut short when she joined the guerrilla band helping the Vratix Ashern liberate their homeworld of Thyferra. 

Iella was suffering from the loss of her husband. They had separated after fleeing Corellia and only recently reunited. Unfortunately, this reunion eventually revealed that Diric had been taken and turned by Isard into one of her sleeper agents. His love for his wife prevented him from killing Iella, but she had not hesitated when an unknown shooter attacked her witness. Iella struggled with the pain of knowing she’d killed her husband and even his dying words of forgiveness and gratitude didn’t help assuage her feelings of guilt.

The Bacta War did end with Tycho and Corran believing they had killed Isard and Mirax accepting Corran’s offer of marriage. They were married on the bridge of the _ Lusankya _itself, striking back at Isard and beginning a new chapter for them both.

* * *

**Isard’s Revenge**

The next period of significant for Corran came years later when the New Republic turned its eyes to the Ciutric Henemony and Prince-Admiral Delak Krennel. What’s more, Corran also had his focus on locating and freeing the remaining _ Lusankya _prisoners. While celebrating the defeat of Grand Admiral Thrawn, one of the former prisoners appeared at the party, located Corran, and immediately died in a gory fashion. This death was deliberated designed to be triggered by Corran’s voice, leaving him feeling responsible for this death and for failing his former captives.

Unbeknownst to the New Republic, the Isard the Rogues had battled on Thyferra had been a clone - a clone who escaped the planet in secret. This clone recruited Krennel in a plot to destroy the Rogues and they were only saved by the real Isard herself. The forces Isard sent to rescue the Rogues from the ambush her clone had planned came almost too late. Several Rogues died and Wes Janson barely survived vacuum exposure thanks to the hasty arrival of the _ Errant Venture _, the personal Star Destroyer of Booster Terrik, Mirax’s father. The other Rogues were whisked away by Isard’s forces and for a time, the New Republic believed Wes Janson to be the only survivor.

Facing Isard again was terrible of Corran (and Tycho Celchu, one assumes). He was highly suspicious of her and her forces, disbelieving her stated reasons for acting. Corran and the other Rogues were on alert for manipulations and treachery from her even as they were forced to work with her to free the remaining _ Lusankya _ prisoners from the cloned Isard’s clutches and complete their original mission of liberating the Ciutric Hegemony.

Corran resumed his mentorship role for Gavin Darklighter as he provided counsel to help Gavin begin to deal with the death of his lover, Asyr Sei’lar. For the first time since leaving Corellia years earlier, he shared details of how his mother had died and reassured Gavin that pain he was feeling would eventually be transformed so that he would remember more good memories of Asyr rather than the bad.

Throughout the training exercises with Isard’s forces and a general work-out routine, Corran seemed to act in such a way as to allow Isard to focus on him and ignore the other Rogues, facing her in one-on-one conversations that left him uncertain what her goal was. He plotted with Wedge to help spirit his astromech unit, Whistler, off the base to alert the New Republic to their survival and their plan for liberating Ciutric IV. 

The operation was ultimately a success on all fronts - the prisoners were liberated, Krennel and the cloned Isard killed, and the real Isard killed while attempting to retake the _ Lusankya _ .

* * *

**The Invids**

A few years after the liberation of the Ciutric Hegemony, Corran and Mirax began discussing having children. Just as they both settled into the idea, Mirax was kidnapped while traveling on a job and the shock of her mental scream left Corran with a severe psychic wound. 

This injury was so severe that Corran was left temporarily uncertain of his own identity and feeling like a stranger in his own home. His emotional connection to Mirax and items associated with her was badly damaged and he was left reeling with no sense of stability.

With the help of first Tycho and then Wedge, Corran consulted on the matter with Luke Skywalker, who diagnosed his injury. Luke then insisted that Corran needed to learn to be properly trained in how to use his Force powers in order to locate his wife. Agreeing, Corran took a leave of absence from Rogue Squadron and departed for Yavin IV. 

It should be noted that while Luke was no doubt well intentioned, he had his own motives for wanting Corran to come to Yavin IV. Indeed, Luke had been attempting to persuade Corran to train for many years and his insistence at this time came when Corran’s ability to make decisions and reason was compromised.

Before departing, Whistler confronted Corran again with a holorecording left to him by his father, Hal Horn, that was contained in the droid’s memory banks. Corran had avoided playing the message for years, fearing that his father’s words would push him in a direction he wasn’t ready or willing to follow. But now, with the shock of Mirax’s loss, Corran could suddenly see the message as a fail-safe Hal had left him, and not a way for Hal to try and push Corran to preserve or uphold a specific legacy. He also finally accepted that his father had most likely not died wondering where Corran was and why he’d let Bossk kill him. For the first time, Corran accepted that his father had known then, as he always had, that Corran would have done anything to save him.

The message that played was most likely recorded while Corran was around sixteen years old and still enrolled in regular schooling. The message was hard to watch and Corran struggled with the memory of Hals’ death as it reared back up. With the recording paused, Corran fought back tears as he could suddenly almost feel his father’s blood soaking into his clothes while he cradled Hal’s head in his lap. This pain, combined with the shock of losing Mirax, nearly broke Corran and it was only his belief that neither of his loved ones would have given up on him let him push forward through this pain and finish the message. 

Corran was incredibly moved by his father’s words detailing their secret family history and his father’s wish that someday he could openly teach Corran the ways of a Jedi as he had been instructed by his father. With this knowledge bolstering him, he resolved to dedicate himself to Luke Skywalker’s teachings and to use these skills to find Mirax.

Before viewing the message, Corran had been waffling some on accepting Luke’s offer, as he thought that the training would take too long to produce the results he needed. However, with his father’s encouragement, he shut away these concerns and threw himself head-first into this new path. 

Corran spent several months on Yavin IV under the identity of Kieran Halcyon. He made great progress in most areas of training, especially influencing others and lightsaber training, but struggled with what had been a historic weakness of the Halcyon line: telekinesis. He also often felt frustrated by the philosophical elements of the training, the lack of structure, and what he perceived as Luke’s narrow view of the Dark and Light sides of the Force. He befriended Mara Jade during her time at the Academy and helped the other students battle the evil Sith spirit Exar Kun that rose up to threaten them all. 

He eventually departed in frustration to pursue a lead Jade found for him. Booster Terrik, his father-in-law, gave him a lift to Corellia on the _ Errant Venture _ so he could consult with his grandfather and helped him infiltrate the planet surface in such a way that would not lead to his arrest.

Corran and his grandfather reconciled after years of separation. Rostek Horn was able to provide Corran with more information about his heritage and provided him even more help in infiltrating the Invids, the force Corran now knew had kidnapped Mirax. 

While working undercover with yet another fake identity, Corran experienced several personal crises as he found himself sympathizing with several Invid pilots. He even reflected that he could likely have ended up in a similar position had he not found his way to the New Republic. 

His saving grace came in the form of the Caamasi Elegos A’kla, a male he had to take as his personal servant in order to protect the rest of the A’kla family. Elegos provided Corran with invaluable counsel, helping him by researching Jedi lore contained in the datacards Rostek had given Corran and helping him find his path as he began to fade and struggle under his assumed identity and long separation from his wife.

Corran’s friend Ooryl Grygg, a Gand Findsman, proved Corran’s ultimate salvation. As a Findsman, Ooryl had insights into the galaxy unlike any other being’s and he knew when the time was right to bring Luke Skywalker to Corran’s aid. Together, they defeated the _ Jensaari _ warriors working for the Invid leader, ex-Moff Leonia Tavira, and exposed their tribe’s history in such a way that freed them from Tavira’s control. They located and freed Mirax and helped the New Republic to defeat the Invids once and for all.

* * *

**Afterwards**

Corran and Mirax had two children, Valin and Jysella, and Corran retired from military service after a formal peace treaty was signed by the New Republic and Imperial Remnant. He joined the Jedi Academy as an instructor and remained with the Order for the rest of his life. His Jedi training and eventual elevation to the rank of Master is what finally broke through the years of trauma that had been shaping his life. 

As part of his training, Corran had to confront and deal with his own demons, and did so with the care and guidance of beings invested in his mental and physical health. He continued to fight to protect the galaxy and the Jedi Order, and even had the honor of leading the Order for a period of time. 

Corran’s life encompassed many of the key events of galactic history. His life was founded in the destruction of the old Jedi Order and purge of its members, he came of age during the slow creep of Imperial tyranny, and suffered numerous wounds at the hands of Imperial agents. He was fortunate in always having at least a few people around him reaching out to support him and help him to the next stage of his life and ultimately shows how even someone suffering from trauma and mental disorders can live a rich, fulfilling life.


	2. Addendum

I realized a while back that I neglected to write more extensively about Corran’s time with the Invids and recent revelations made me glad I hadn’t gotten to it before now. 

Many have commented while reading _I, Jedi_, that Corran seems to take his sweet time finding and rescuing Mirax. It recently occurred to me that the reason for this occurs early on in the book but is passed over by most reads. Indeed, I was one of those who missed it. 

Corran is severely injured at the beginning of the book and it takes nearly the entirety of the story for that wound to heal.

Recall the moment where Mirax is kidnapped. Corran senses the moment she is torn away from him and placed in stasis. This happens via a psychic attack so bad that it causes Corran an injury Luke Skywalker later identifies. Luke does not, however, realize just how severe the injury is, a disturbing thought given how serious he does say it is.

In the moments after the injury, Corran’s very sense of self is damaged. He calls Emtrey, Rogue Squadron’s quartermaster, just to verify his own identity and life circumstances. He _isn’t completely sure_ who he is and need external verification.

Later, Luke diagnosis Corran’s injury and correctly surmises that he needs time to recover from this injury. Unfortunately, Luke isn’t experienced at Force Healing and doesn’t realize how malleable Corran is. When he suggests Corran come join his new Jedi Acadmy, Corran readily agrees despite having turned down the offer of training multiple times in the past.

What we do see Corran do is throw himself into being undercover as Kieryn Halycon, which aggravates his existing identity issues. When he is jolted out of that identity, he reaches out for something to help him rediscover a sense of stability and finds it in his grandfather. He feels centered and steady in his identity while on Corellia... Only to lose it when he goes undercover yet again, this time joining the Invids as Janos Idanian.

This undercover work is even more devastating than his time as Kieryn Halcyon. Corran himself sees a horrifying version of himself reflected in one of the the Invid pilots. In many ways, it is possible, if not likely, that Corran’s behavior as Janos hearken backs to the worst excesses of his behavior after his father’s death. We know Corran became very sexual active and engaged in violent and risky behaviors after his father’s death. We also know he has never received effective treatment for the trauma he suffered from his father’s death. It seems likely, then, that Corran’s early behavior as Janos Idanian is similar to the worst excess of his behavior early on after Hal’s death. 

This also gives a solid possible reason for Corran’s constant sexual urges throughout the novel. Sex was an escape for him after his father’s death as well as part of his PTSD-drive risk taking behaviors. If anything, this connection leads to another possibility:

Losing Mirax didn’t cause Corran a new psychic injury - it reopened the one caused by his father’s death and threw him back into the same neurological state of trauma he suffered years earlier with additional damage to his sense of self after the injury languished untreated for years.

As always, I find Corran a fascinating character with layers upon layers of hidden depths!


End file.
